Name the Walker Pigeon!

Give a big warm welcome to the new arrival here at Walker Towers - our very own pigeon! 

Over the past few weeks, a little pigeon has been busy building a big nest right outside our window, making a new home alongside the picture books and post-it notes. To welcome it into the Walker family, we thought it only fair that we give it a name! There are obviously many wonderful names out there suitable for a pigeon, so we thought we'd leave it up to you to decide...

If you or your little ones have got the perfect name for our pigeon-in-residence, send us a tweet @WalkerBooksUK or drop an email to marketing@walker.co.uk. The best name will win a copy of The Duckling Gets A Cookie!? by Mo Willems and a Picture Book Picnic goody bag full of activity sheets, postcards, stickers and a poster. Happy tweeting!

Losing your first tooth...

Illustrator Sarah Fox-Davies gives us a
glimpse into the wonderful world of Little Beaver, and shares some of her original
sketches for her new
book Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth.

What did the beaver say to the tree? 

“Nice gnawing you.”

 I have discovered that one of the best trees to gnaw (if
you’re a beaver) is the aspen, which has tasty bark, and grows near the lakes
and ponds where beavers live.

If you’re a beaver, you can eat the bark of the aspen. You
can cut down the tree with your sharp front teeth, and use it to built a dam,
or make a beaver lodge to live in.

I like to search for this kind of information when I'm illustrating a
book. The characters are important, but their surroundings can be
interesting, too. 

If you met him before in Little Beaver and The Echo, you will know that Little Beaver lives by the edge of a big pond.

This time one of his big front teeth is loose. How will he be able to eat bark, and do all the other things that beavers do? Little Beaver starts to panic. Is he really a beaver at all?

Luckily,
there are other animals living around the pond who are not so confused,
especially Wise Old Beaver, who seems to have answers to all Little
Beaver's questions about teeth.

To illustrate Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth, I started by doing small sketches with a pen. You can see some of them here.

Then I drew the finished pictures with pencil, and painted them with
watercolour. After the small sketches, we made a few changes to some of
the scenes.

For fun puzzles and games with Little Beaver and his friends, have a go at our activity sheets! 

 

Little Beaver and The Big Front Tooth by Amy MacDonald  is available to buy here.

Free adorable activity sheets

This week, we're very excited about the arrival of the charming new picture book by Amy MacDonald and Sarah Fox Davies, Little Beaver and the Big Front Tooth. The hugely anticipated follow-up to the popular Little Beaver and the Echo! takes Little Beaver on a search for his true identity, meeting LOTS of different animals along the way!

To join in Little Beaver's adventures, download our free adorable animal activity sheets, including spot the difference, matching pairs and identify the animal. Simply click here to get your free pack.

Later this month, go behind the scenes with illustrator Sarah Fox Davies in an exclusive guest blog post about the making of the book...